Then&Now: The Greenwich Village Theater

Greenwich Village and the area of Sheridan Square was a popular tourist destination during the 1910s and 1920s, helped by the development of the West Side subway line in 1918.

The Greenwich Village Theatre was originally built for the Greenwich Village Players, who, like the Washington Square Players, were amateur players.

Sinclair Lewis satirized prominent Greenwich Village figures (who he clearly thought were taking themselves too seriously) and the influx of tourists in Hobohemia, a short story that he adapted into a play for the theater in 1919. The play’s character of Mr. Brown decides that “the only problem with bohemia is that the bohemians don’t know how to make a profit from it.”

The Greenwich Village Follies, with scenes and songs that also parodied Greenwich Village life and current events, opened at the Greenwich Village Theatre in 1919. Following the success of the Follies, the show moved to the Schubert Theatre on Broadway a month after it had opened downtown. Nevertheless, the theater was so influential, that it helped form the reputation of the area as a creative enclave.

THEN:Greenwich Village Theatre at 7th Avenue and Christopher Street. In the background of this 1928 photo, the Greenwich Village Theatre is seen beyond the Christopher Street Park trees and the foreground excavation for the 14-story apartment building erected at 10 Sheridan Square in 1928-29 by the architect Emory Roth who used a Neo-Romanesque design. The Sheridan Viewing Garden would be added to the left. Here, the fly loft structure is seen—nearly as tall as the tenement building to the left of it. Credit: NYPL Digital Collections.

NOW: Sheridan Square Park at 7th Avenue and Christopher and West 4th Streets. Today, visitors to “bohemian” Greenwich Village can still visit the park areas, which include the wrought iron fences seen above, at Sheridan Square and Christopher Street. Although the Greenwich Village Theatre building has been gutted and stripped of almost all its original detail, and the fly loft is gone, and storefront and office windows have been added, there is still some fanciful cornice work on all three facades. Credit: Brian J. Pape, AIA.